Richard A. Sokerka
One good thing that has evolved during the pandemic is that telemedicine has started to become more prevalent as patients are now able to have appointments with their doctors and interact with them over their smart phone, tablet or home computer. This digital linking of physicians and patients has become a much-needed staple since the pandemic that has separated patients from visits to their doctor’s office due to shelter-in-place edicts.
Nevertheless, leave it to the abortion industry to turn something good into a worst-case scenario. During the pandemic, more abortion drugs are being dispensed via telemedicine and the number of women seeking at-home medical abortions through an experimental U.S. telemedicine provider has reportedly doubled.
Gynuity Health Products sponsors the TelAbortion telemedicine-style medical abortion project. Its website describes its mission “as a development and advocacy group in reproductive and maternal health.”
A medical abortion, also known as a chemical abortion, is a two-step process involving the ingestion of two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone effectively starves the unborn baby by blocking the effects of progesterone. The second drug, misoprostol, is taken up to two days later and induces labor.
While U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules require the first drug to be dispensed in clinics or hospitals by doctors or other medical providers who are specially certified, they do not require that providers see patients in person. Some clinics allow women to consult via video.
Medical abortion was first approved by the FDA in 2000 for women 10 weeks into pregnancy or earlier. About 60 percent of women who choose abortion in this time frame choose a chemical abortion.
The FDA allows the TelAbortion program by special arrangement, as part of a research study.
But, thankfully, some lawmakers are seeking to change this method of abortion via telemedicine.
The Teleabortion Prevention Act would make it a federal offense for healthcare providers to provide the drugs for a chemical abortion without performing a physical examination first. They would have to be present during the procedure and schedule a follow-up visit.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is a doctor, sponsored the legislation, with 10 co-sponsors, all Republicans.
“Performing an abortion without the presence of a health care provider puts the lives of both the mother and unborn child in serious danger. Chemical abortions present serious risks, and health care providers need to be responsible stewards of that knowledge,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a co-sponsor, said. Another co-sponsor, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), said the bill would make “mail-order abortions” a federal offense.
“I firmly believe that advances in medicine should be used to save lives, not take them away,” he said.
In a time when so many lives are being lost in the pandemic, this legislation would stop the taking of more innocent lives, reinforcing in our nation that all life is sacred.